Kud Wafter

Now with more loli.

Kud Wafter is a 2010 Key fandisc/sequel for Little Busters!, focusing in Kud. It has an all ages PSP port coming out (at some point).

vndb EGS

Story

It’s summer vacation time, and most students are returning to their homes. From the Little Busters, the only ones who stayed in the campus are the brand new couple Riki x Kud. But there’s an accident in the male dormitory, and the remaining students end up provisionally moving to the female dormitory. And when it’s seen that the rooms are not enough, Kud offers to share her room with Riki. So it starts their cute, sexy and rocket-y summer daily life.

Review

Haruka mode

There’s a big warning that should be done when going to play this: don’t come here expecting more of what you found in Little Busters!. For starters, though there’s Kud (obviously), as cute as ever, and Riki, being Riki, no other character from the original makes even an appearance, with the exceptions of Kanata and A-chan-sempai; and the former has her personality so changed, and the later had so little screen time in the original, that they could as well be new characters. There are instead a few original characters, which make for the rest of the main cast.

There basically no comedy, either; certainly not as sidesplitting as in the original. There’s neither anything like the overarching plot of LB (there’s still a theme of friendship and cooperation, though). What there’s instead is at first a very relaxed story with Kud being cute and all icha-icha with Riki and having loads of ero (Kud must end up having more H scenes than all the other heroines combined, or close).

Hentai mode

And a lot of rocketry. The basic structure is a series of plot points, first with a pet bottle rocket competition mixed with some family drama, then a model rocket construction, and then the main drama, involving Kud’s mother. This astronautical orientation is not exactly unexpected, given who the heroine is, but is still once again an important departure from LB.

And there’s also a curious (in the particular way it was executed) system of two chapters, Wafter and After. The first time you play Wafter, comprising the first plot point; after that you go on to After, which starts again, which a slight scenario difference (and skipping the ero), and then proceeds until the end. The idea it’s not necessarily bad, but in this case it adds next to nothing, so I end up wondering what was really the point.

Summer mode

As for the scenario itself, the drama is not terrible, but it progresses very slowly. Together with a slice of life which is heartwarming but not really “funny”, it makes for a somewhat dull reading for the most part, except in some moments; and in the grand finale, which does manage to hit the right notes and make an appropriate and satisfying closure for this after story that’s Kud Wafter. And in a way (though only in a single way) it may be even more satisfying than the original.

So overall, this does have some good things (Kud), and the cuteness is undeniable. But it’s also undeniably slow. Take also account of the new cast and the different orientation and this turns out to be better understood as a completely different game that happens to share a character with Little Busters! rather than a sequel or side story for it. If you are expecting the later you’ll probably end up disappointed. But if you don’t mind the former, and especially if you are interested in rockets, there’s enjoyment to be had here; even if the scenario is lackluster in places.